Tom And Jerry

In Tom and Jerry - The Movie, the animated feature that opened last week, the veteran cat and mouse adversaries do something they've rarely done before. They talk.Not just a few choice words or frantic yelps, but big chunks of move-the-plot-along dialogue. That's more than a half-century of tradition out the window.''It was a monumental decision,'' concedes Joseph Barbera, of the famous Hanna-Barbera animation duo that introduced the rodent and feline rivals back in a 1940 MGM short, Puss Gets the Boot.

As television has become a major part of our lives, watching football on New Year's Day has replaced the lovely tradition of opening one's home to friends. I may be deported for even thinking this, but the marathon of bowl games seems to me a waste of a beautiful holiday.Many homes, still have an open house, a brunch or a party of some sort on the first day of the year. The theme of most such celebrations, however, is football, not friendship.With nostalgia I remember open houses B.T. (before television)

When Orlando Ballet premieres its Cinderella this weekend, it will be a premiere of sorts for Peter Stark too. At 37, the director of the Orlando Ballet School is choreographing his first full-length ballet for the professional company -- and taking on a much-loved classic to do it. He's sticking with the Sergei Prokofiev score, but there are surprises in store. Here, he talks about why fairy tales inspire ballets, how he's gone against tradition and the value of a good punch line. Question: Is this ballet appropriate for children?

The critics aren't being very kind to Tom and Jerry: The Movie. One big gripe: The cat and mouse talk. The plot concerns a little girl named Robyn who runs away from a greedy aunt trying to steal her inheritance. Tom and Jerry come to Robyn's rescue, outwitting a cruel veterinarian and a weird carnival barker in the process.A sampling of the critics:- Candice Russell, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel: ''It would have been better if there were fewer or no human characters and a lot more slapstick, chaos and fantasy.

Elias, an MGM executive who served for 25 years on the board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and received an honorary Oscar in 1979, died Sunday in Los Angeles. He was 93. Elias headed MGM's cartoon and short subjects productions. During his tenure, the studio's ''Tom and Jerry'' series won eight Academy Awards.

Murder, sex, corruption, drugs, alcohol addiction and abortion all make for good reading, whether the circumstances are real or fiction.So, Altamonte Springs writer Barbara Coenson included all that and more her first book, Tom and Jerry, published recently by Vantage Press.The plot blends her ''wild imagination'' with elaborations of some events that actually took place.Coenson, though, has left it up to the readers to decide where fact ends and fiction begins.Coenson, executive assistant to the director of the Orange County Medical Society, said it took her two years to finish the book.

That's Tom and Jerry Hardy with their blue and white '53 Ford Sunline -- not their original '53 Ford Sunline, mind you. That one had taken them to their high school prom and on their honeymoon. But they traded that one around 1960, after the first of their two daughters had arrived. `It kind of broke my heart,' Tom Hardy says. After all, besides the memories associated with the original Sunline, he had customized the car big time -- including putting 1936 Buick headlights on the grille.

Come on back, Shaq.It's OK, we'll all let bygones be bygones.The last we heard, you still have your home in Isleworth. And with apologies to Ike Austin, one of the NBA's sweetest guys, you still can have your old job back at center.After the end of next season, just throw open the same escape hatch in your contract as you did here, and leave L.A. for Orlando.Bid Tinseltown goodbye, and come on back to dunk in Podunk.That's if you're more serious about winning than you are about rapping.The only ring you'll stumble upon with the Lakers will be the one flying off Dennis Rodman's tongue.

In Tom and Jerry - The Movie, the animated feature that opened last week, the veteran cat and mouse adversaries do something they've rarely done before. They talk.Not just a few choice words or frantic yelps, but big chunks of move-the-plot-along dialogue. That's more than a half-century of tradition out the window.''It was a monumental decision,'' concedes Joseph Barbera, of the famous Hanna-Barbera animation duo that introduced the rodent and feline rivals back in a 1940 MGM short, Puss Gets the Boot.

The critics aren't being very kind to Tom and Jerry: The Movie. One big gripe: The cat and mouse talk. The plot concerns a little girl named Robyn who runs away from a greedy aunt trying to steal her inheritance. Tom and Jerry come to Robyn's rescue, outwitting a cruel veterinarian and a weird carnival barker in the process.A sampling of the critics:- Candice Russell, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel: ''It would have been better if there were fewer or no human characters and a lot more slapstick, chaos and fantasy.

Elias, an MGM executive who served for 25 years on the board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and received an honorary Oscar in 1979, died Sunday in Los Angeles. He was 93. Elias headed MGM's cartoon and short subjects productions. During his tenure, the studio's ''Tom and Jerry'' series won eight Academy Awards.

Little kids have things tough. Everything's bigger than they are. Older kids are always picking on 'em.In fact, it's even hard to find video games that little kids will like. It's even harder to find games that kids and their parents can play together.But you probably won't be surprised that we have come up with a list of new games that are aimed at little kids - and their parents.Duck Tales 2 (for Nintendo, $45): Just when you thought for sure that the old NES was dead, a game like this comes along.